The Rangers’ Willie Calhoun suffered a fractured jaw March 8, but the outfielder has made encouraging progress in the week-plus since then. Calhoun flew back to Texas with his teammates on Monday after receiving medical clearance, MLB.com TR Sullivan of MLB.com tweets. Aside from the fractured jaw, Calhoun’s not dealing with any other symptoms. He’s slated to begin light cardio activity later this week.
After taking a 95 mph fastball in the face from the Dodgers’ Julio Urias, Calhoun looked like a sure bet to open the season on the injured list. But that was before Major League Baseball shut down for an indeterminate amount of time because of the global coronavirus pandemic. It’s obvious that the longer play is halted, the better Calhoun’s chances are of logging a full season, though it’s anyone’s guess when the sport will resume or how many games the league will squeeze in this year.
A full slate from Calhoun would undoubtedly be welcome for the Rangers, who saw the former top-100 prospect turn into a solid contributor in 2019. Calhoun, 25, accrued a career-high 337 plate appearances and batted .269/.323/.524 with 21 home runs and an impressive 15.6 percent strikeout rate.
The health of Calhoun figures to affect the role of Nick Solak, also 25. Solak had been in line to fill in as the Rangers’ left fielder during Calhoun’s absence. Solak can move around the diamond, though, as he played second and third during his initial big league stint last season and lined up at all three outfield positions as a minor leaguer. And Solak certainly made a case for a larger role during his MLB debut last year, when he hit a robust .293/.393/.491 and tallied five homers in 135 trips to the plate.
You always have to root for a guy who takes one on the face! Get better Willie best of luck with your rehab!
Anyone remember the time mike Matheny took a fastball to the face and never left his feet… just spit out some teeth and tried to take first base before the medical staff told him he had to come out of the game lol.
I vaguely remember that. He’s pretty tough; one may wonder if those kind of traumas later affect abilities as a manager.
Solak has looked outstanding in CF. Dont be surprised to see Calhoun in LF and Solak in CF on a daily basis with Santana deployed as either everyday 1B or a super utility. Eli White has also looked superb defensively in CF and he would likely be the AAA stash, meaning Adolis Garcia/Scott Heineman is 4th OF.
Going into camp, defensive CF was the team’s biggest question mark, especially with the Rangers locked in to moving Gallo to RF full time (where his arm plays up more). They have now addressed that internally. Local reporting from Evan Grant and TR Sullivan has consistently stated Texas has been pleased with the output there.
Hey?
The one game they showed on TV he was out in left field and he over ran an easy catch by the foul line and made a mockery of it.. don’t know that center field has been solved internally..
I have Calhoun, Solak, and Santana all as $1 keepers on my fantasy baseball team.
I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
“I have a jaw breaker” would have been better
dynamite…..
That’s one of those videos that makes you concerned about his life outside of baseball. He looked to be stunned, like he took a punch.
Glad bones heal and that’s all that was wrong.
Kind of cruel to show a picture of him with all the teeth he used to have…..
It’ll be nice to see him in LF full time this season. He deserves the chance.
The sole good thing about the delayed season is it gives injured players time to recover and be ready without missing time
I’m glad Calhoun is progressing well. I worry about the ability of any player, after going through this, to stay in the box on a brushback pitch. The same with pitchers who get hit by comebackers. I know that players have to be mentally tough to reach this level, but geez…
While I root for two teams, one from each league, I’m also a fan of the game as a whole. This is an example of why you shouldn’t throw at batters intentionally. A slip could seriously injure someone and ruin a career. I still think of Dickie Thon whenever I hear fans encourage teams to throw at the Astros players.
They let players wear padding all over themselves. He’ll be fine. He crowds the plate, thanks to said padding. Had he not wore all the padding he probably doesn’t crowd the plate as much and potentially doesn’t get hit.
Motorcycle helmets might be coming soon. I’d advocate for that. But take the arm padding off. It’s ridiculous how much plate crowding is allowed and encouraged.